Today is the last day for the publishing of the Rocky Mountain News, 59 days short of its 150th birthday. It is an extremely sad day. Could this have been prevented? What if they would have decided to put together a really excellent on-line publication and charged subscriptions? That is what the WSJ does; they put out an excellent product every day, and they have over one million subscribers. Of course, they already had a national reputation to build upon: excellence in reporting on the economy. If the Rocky would have charged for on-line subscriptions, they would have had to carve out a niche for excellence and uniqueness.
The Rocky provided editorial balance to the Denver Post. Editorial page editor Vince Carroll did an excellent job of providing a common sense perspective on local and national issues. He brought us superb national columnists like Charles Krauthamer, Michelle Malkin, George Will and Victor Davis Hansen. Dave Krieger was one of their excellent sports columnists who, no matter what the sport, always seemed to be able to put his finger on what actions needed to be taken in order for the local team to become successful. I am extremely pleased that the Denver Post has announced that they will be hiring both Carroll and Krieger, although they also picked up a gaggle of one-note lefties, too.
Another columnist, Dave Kopel, whom the Rocky paid to offer unfettered criticism of its news coverage, pointed out in today's final column that bloggers ("internet opinion writers") are still dependent on news reporters. So true, Dave.
Today the Rocky put together what is probably the best edition they have ever published. I will be reading it from cover to cover, wiping away tears the whole time.
2 comments:
I weep with you Bob, at the passing away of all good things.
When picking up a Colorado paper to read, it was always my first choice. Often it was sold out while The Post had plenty of copies in their machine.
But, I was generally out in red country when that happened.
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